Selling unwanted books in 2019

MothballsWallet

Hi everyone,

I've got some old books from my degree course 20 years ago that I've kept but have never used and I'd like to sell them online, so I was wondering if anyone had any tips for where I could get the best prices for them?

I'm considering the following places:

• eBay
• Amazon Marketplace
• Ziffit
• Music Magpie
• WeBuyBooks
• Abe Books

Does anyone have any experience of these sites and how would you rate them?

Thanks in advance

soolin

Firstly check out the eBay sold prices as that will give you an indication as to whether they are even worth photographing and listing. On Amazon you can check the ranking, you'd need it less than about 50,000 to even stand a chance of selling. Then just check the bulk book buyers like webuybooks and see if they even want them.

Unless they are really special I fear you may well be best charity shopping them, assuming you can find a charity shop to take them, surprisingly many in some areas no longer take books as they take up a lot of room and are slow sellers.

mjm3346

soolin wrote: »

Unless they are really special I fear you may well be best charity shopping them, assuming you can find a charity shop to take them, surprisingly many in some areas no longer take books as they take up a lot of room and are slow sellers.

I agree, worth checking online but there is almost no chance of any of them being rare/first editions and they would be of little use to students today.

Tesco near here have a bookcase in store where you can freely leave books and if you want to take any you leave a donation in the charity box (they actually raise £100's with it), probably wouldn't want textbooks though.

Ngozi

I did MusicMagpie for some old criminal law books, not really worth the effort, most were coming in at less than a £1, odd one at £2+
Factor in the size of the books, the weight limit that MusicMagpie put on their boxes etc...

Ebay might be worth a try as long as you can mark up on the postage.

AnotherJoe

I'm surprised they have any value. Have you checked?

My expectation, quite possibly wrong it seems, is that books that are probably 25 years old are likely to be worthless, because new editions will have ruled them redundant or not wanted for courses now because replaced by others.

ARod12

Ngozi wrote: »

I did MusicMagpie for some old criminal law books, not really worth the effort, most were coming in at less than a £1, odd one at £2+
Factor in the size of the books, the weight limit that MusicMagpie put on their boxes etc...

Ebay might be worth a try as long as you can mark up on the postage.

Music Magpie collect your books/CDs etc. for free which seemed more profitable for the items I sold the other month, compared to listing them all on Amazon/eBay individually and having to post them individually. That's my 2 cents.

soolin

Ain wrote: »

hi there is you still have the books and you would like to donate them please let me know. i am collecting books for a library in my area

Hmmm

No library is going to want completely out of date text books- if this is a legit response then go to a charity shop and ask them for their books. When I used to sell books as a living charity shops would allow me to pick books at 3p per book , or 2p per book if I just bought unsorted. You have no idea even where the OP is - very odd post especially as your location shows as Dubai........

mjm3346

soolin wrote: »

Hmmm

No library is going to want completely out of date text books- if this is a legit response then go to a charity shop and ask them for their books. When I used to sell books as a living charity shops would allow me to pick books at 3p per book , or 2p per book if I just bought unsorted. You have no idea even where the OP is - very odd post especially as your location shows as Dubai........

Fits in very well with their other posts which haven't been deleted yet include this in the comping section

I'm still trying to figure out. One of the threads I found a guy asking for something that i sell and I cant share my link with him on the forum. Tons of people on the thread want those products and I cant DM each one separately

MalMonroe

Hi, I graduated about 20 years ago but sold most of my academic books at the time of leaving Uni. Twenty years later, they'll be out of date and not wanted by any self-respecting student. Although my outlay was high, when I sold the books I made hardly anything - and that was then. Sometimes the bookshop at the Uni you attended will buy books back from you, certainly mine did but at a fraction of the price paid. However, after 20 years, I'd either give them to a charity shop or put them in a recycling bin. Nobody wants to buy 20 year old text books. Sorry but they really don't.

Cap2019

I used webuybooks recently and they offered far more than music magpie as well as providing me with a code to boost my offer by 10%, sold 12 uni books for £60 and would definitely use again


Graduated in 2016 mind so the books aren't too heavily outdated